Backdrop for the Star Spangled Banner

As I stood on a hill in Woodsboro, Maryland, I thought about what life was like for Americans who lived, fought, and perhaps died during the early wars over control of a young nation.

Many colonists were indecisive about what they should do, especially in the early years of the American Revolution, and to some extent early in the War of 1812: remain loyal to the Crown or join the American cause.

Farmers, tradesmen, shipbuilders and factory workers made up the majority of colonists; most had minimal education. Pay was meager and life was rough for settlers in many of the colonies. Large families were common; in many cases families relied on the land and their own labor to provide food, clothing, and shelter. Only wealthy New Englanders had elegant homes, furniture, and clothes.

Small pox, pneumonia, tuberculosis, and the flu killed thousands of early settlers; doctors were scarce and treatment was primitive. Physicians still used such things as blood letting — a practice that did more harm than good — to treat certain ailments.

 Yet even in a land where life was hard for many, the desire for self-sufficiency began to take hold. I pondered the burgeoning effort by the colonists to gain independence in Maryland and the rest of the country.

Maryland residents played a key role in the early years of this country; its military forces played a major part in some of the battles that helped secure the freedom sought by those who had ventured to these shores in search of a better way of life.

I marveled at the love of country and the inherent struggles to become an independent country. I contemplated what it must have been like to be at Fort McHenry as it defended Baltimore from the British — or alongside Francis Scott Key as he watched aboard a British ship behind enemy lines. I wondered about the brave soldiers and sailors and the families they left behind. I recalled how they helped defend a young country against threats from within and without.

Revolutionary War: In April 1775 ten companies of riflemen were authorized to assist the New Englanders in their clash with the British in Boston. Two of those units came from Western Maryland and were mustered into service in Fredrick under the command of Michael Cresap and Thomas Price.

August 22, 1776, the Maryland Cadets under the command of General Smallwood were sent to join the command of General George Washington in the New York area, the center of the British posts. The southern troops were not prepared for winter in New York; many died of frostbite or disease or lost limbs. Those who survived the elements and the hostile fire from the British learned to fight in the trees, in mud puddles, how to hide from the British.

Among the cadets was John Ross Key, the father of Francis Scott Key. The senior Key served with the Maryland unit from 1775 until after the Yorktown Campaign in 1781 when he was honorably discharged and returned to Frederick. Francis was born in 1779.

War of 1812: The Maryland Militia’s first duty in the War of 1812 was protecting publishers of anti-war newspapers but as the war escalated so did their duties. The men were part of the units that fought for freedom during the War of 1812. The cadets were primarily infantrymen; only the officers rode horses. The men wore tri-corned hats and carried long rifles; some wore red coats.

They frequently survived on little food, sometimes near starvation; they often went without pay for their services. Many returned home when their enlistments were up.

During the twenty-five hour battle at Baltimore’s Fort McHenry the British lobbed more than fifteen hundred shots, shells, and rockets in and around the bastions of the fort. Their failed effort inspired and immortalized Francis Scott Key, lawyer/poet that penned the Star Spangled Banner. The battle at the fort marked the end of Maryland’s involvement in the War of 1812.